Prestige
AWARD
Rabobank
International
What's NewS
MONTHLY INT F. RNA L NEWSLETTER FOR RABOBANK INTERNATIONAL Issue 12December 1996
Utrecht's Eurobond team was able to start celebrating
early this year as the news came through of a
prestigious award for RI. The authoritative journal
Corporate Finance has awarded us the Eurobond of the
Year 1996 prize for the Royal Netherlands PTT (KPN)
issue. The Dutch telecoms and postal group issue was
lead managed by the bank last June. This award is the
icing on the cake for the team which is increasingly
gaining reputation and recognition for its placing
power.
There's more on this subject on page 6 but we reckoned
the team deserved front-page cover for this award.
Corporate Finance is read by top financial professionals
all over the world, so enhanced name recognition is a
spin-off here. Congratulations to the team (from left to
right): Robert Berkelaar, Jan Haars, Rob van Zadelhoff,
Max Kepel and Johan Roepman.
in brief
LATIN AMERICAN FIRST
The first ever Latin American
*orporate finance conference
fas hosted by our colleagues
in Chile on November 20-22.
Rabobankers gathered from
Argentina, Brasil, Mexico,
Curacao, Chile itself and from
the bank's New York branch.
The objective,' says Roland
Blok of the Santiago de Chile
operation, 'was to bring
together corporate finance
people from the Latin
American offices and product
specialists from New York
branch in order to exchange
ideas and learn from each
others' experience.'
The meeting was perceived as
essential in view of the fact
that the bank's operations in
•ie region are rapidly
iversifying from trade finance
into other, more corporate
contents
finance oriented products. 'The
reason for this diversification,'
Blok explains, 'is the fact that
our markets have and are
changing. Moreover, due to the
overall improvements in the
economie situation here in the
region, and the
implementation of trade bloes,
such as Mercosur and NAFTA,
local companies are actively
looking for cross-border
investment opportunities. The
trend here is clearly that Latin
America as a region is finally
integrating.'
According to participants, the
meeting - which in view of
ongoing developments, should
be the first of many - was
highly productive. 'And,' Blok
confirms, 'that was because
our discussions were fully
focused on the business of our
clients in our markets.'
HOCKEY KICK-OFF
RI has been the official main
sponsor of the Royal Dutch
Hockey Association (KNHB)
since July 1 this year. We have
signed up to provide broad-
based support to the KNHB
for an initial period of three
years, a time-span which
includes the World
Championships to be hosted
by the Netherlands in 1998.
'Although it may seem a long
way off,' says Vincent Pijpers
of the marketing department,
'the run-up to the World event
has already started. Sales of
passé partout tickets for the
whole championship were
launched in late November.
Clearly, the KNHB is planning
ahead and we want to alert
our network to what will be a
(Continued on page 2)
WHAT'S NEW THIS
MONTH - CHECK OUT
WHAT'S NEWS TO
FIND OUT.
RIAS - advice and consultancy
in demand 4
Robeco in the Group - a new
asset for the bank 7
International health care -
positive diagnosis 11
The year at a glance -
milestonesforRI 12
EMU update - regular feature
on monetary union 14
Talking heads - goes
international 16
